Saturday, 30 March 2013

1921-02-05

REMINISCENT OF HUGH
C. BAKER

At the fourteenth annual convention of the
Association of Life Insurance Presidents, held recently in New York, T. B.
Macaulay, president of the Sun Life Assurance company, gave an address on Life
Assurance in Canada, portions of which will be of special interest to old-time
Hamiltonians. The Saturday Muser is under obligations to Herb. Gardiner, a
one-time editor of the Times, for a very pleasant historical story of the
Canada Life Assurance company, which had its birth in Hamilton in the year
1847, with Hugh C. Baker as its president and chief financial manager. It might
not be out of place, as an addition to Mr. Gardiner’s story, to give the names
of the men who were the first officers and directors of the company. The Canada
Life Assurance company was organized and established in 1847, its head office
being located in Hamilton. The paid-up capital at the start was fixed at
250,000 pounds. Five years later, its accumulated fund had increased to 65,000
pounds, with an annual income of 22,500 pounds. Total liabilities 172,186
pounds. Total assets, 244,029 pounds. This was a good showing for a young life
assurance company. The official roster of the company was as follows :

Dr. Gerald O’Reilly was one of the founders
and original stockholders of the Canada Life Assurance company, and his
signature will be found on the first formal contract under which the business
of the company was begun and before the charter was granted in April, 1849. He
was the first medical referee and adviser of the company, and was numbered
among the first policy holders, being No. 47.

Prior to 1847, Mr. Macaulay said, life
assurance was almost unknown in the province of British America. The rest of
the story was prepared by Mr. Gardiner from Mr. Macaulay’s address.

WHEN THE CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY WAS
BORN

In that year (1847) the first Canadian life
office was founded, the Canada Life Assurance company. When in 1867, the
Canadian provinces were federated and became the Dominion of Canada, the total
of the assurances in force was probably about $15,000,000, about one-fourth of
the amount being in the Canada Life, the remainder being in British and
American companies.

The circumstances which led to the founding
of the Canada Life are of interest. Hugh C. Baker, of Hamilton, Ontario, a
gentleman of considerable banking experience, desired to insure his life, and
for that purpose applied to one of the British offices. Being a rather substandard
life, there was a little hesitancy, and he was requested to go all the way to
New York for examination, no small undertaking in those days when railways were
unknown and the only means of transportation were stage coach and saddle. Mr.
Baker was a thoughtful, studious man, and he decided to found a local company
in his own town. He succeeded in interesting a number of others, and thus in
1847, the Canada Life Assurance company, the pioneer office of the Dominion,
came into being. “I may be pardoned for injecting,” said Mr. Macaulay, “that my
honored father joined the staff of the Canada Life as its accountant when it
was eight years old, in 1855. I have often heard him speak of Mr. Baker, and
always in terms of admiration, even of affection. He had a profound regard for
Mr. Baker’s character, ability and devotion to the interests of his company.
Those were the days when such men as he had to grope in the dark to a large
extent when faced with actuarial and investment problems. Elaborate tables of
policy values, with the multitude of other helps we now have, did not exist.
Mr. Baker had to do much of his own calculating, using chiefly, if I remember
it straight, the Carlisle six per cent tables for valuations. I have heard my
father describe his voluminous calculations in connection with premium reserves
and bond values.” Such work was congenial to him, and the Canada Life was
indeed fortunate in having such a man as its guide in its earlier years. In
those days, the public knew nothing of the principles of life assurance, and
were indifferent to its advantages. In many cases there was even keen
opposition on the ground that it was an interference with the workings of
Divine Providence. The company had great difficulties to contend with, but Mr.
Baker “builded” even better than he knew , and the Canada Life as it stands
today is the monument to his enterprise and wisdom.

It was nearly a quarter of a century before
any other Canadian company entered the field. The federation of the provinces,
however, stimulated greatly the national consciousness of the enterprise. In
the late sixties several companies were incorporated, and shortly afterwards
began business, the Ontario Mutual 1870, the Sun Life and the Confederation in
1871. When these newly-organized companies began to compete for their share of
the business in 1871, the Canada Life had in force slightly over five thousand
policies, covering a little more than eight million dollars of assurance. In
those days, however, these figures appeared very large. The company had behind
it twenty-four years of prosperous business life and its prestige was indeed
great. Its assets of a million and a quarter dollars were considered enormous
for Canada, and it had a record for large profits such as few companies anywhere
were able to sustain. Canadians were, and are, rightly proud of their pioneer
company which has now, however, grown to a size and strength which would make
the men of 1871 gasp with astonishment.

On the death of its founder, Mr. Baker, in
1859, the board of directors of the Canada Life sent a deputation to the old
country to select a successor who would possess the advantage of the training
of some British company. Their choice fell to A. G. Ramsay, at that time
connected with the Scottish Amicable Life. I was privileged some time ago to
read the interesting correspondence which these representatives of the board
had with Mr. Ramsay, which led to his becoming manager of the company, and,
ultimately, in 1875, its president. After twenty-six years of arduous service,
Mr. Ramsay retired in January, 1900, on a liberal pension, which he enjoyed for
many years.

He was succeeded by Senator Geo. A. Cox, one
of the mosr forceful men Canada has produced. He had been connected with the
company for thirty years before assuming the presidency. He in turn was
succeeded by his son, E. W. Cox, whose career was cut short by death after but
one year of office; his successor being our friend, his brother, H. C. Cox,
president of the company at the present time.

Perhaps I may add that to those who remember
the great part played by A. G. Ramsay in the development of te company, it is
very pleasing to know that the name has not been allowed to drop out, for among
those intimately associated with Mr. Cox is Mr. Ramsay’s grandson, another W.
G. Ramsay.

The Muser is one of the few surviving
Hamiltonians who can remember Hugh C. Baker as the first president of the
Canada Life. We can also remember him as one of the leaders in active life of
Hamilton more than seventy years ago. He was the founder of three building
societies, two of which he was the president, and the third one
secretary-treasurer. Those societies helped to build up Hamilton, for
carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers and painters could own their home by
borrowing, at a low rate of interest, the money necessary to purchase the
building material, and then the different trades swapped work with each other,
and thus became homeowners. Although a busy man, he took the time necessary to
attend to religious matters, being a warden in the Church of the Ascension, and
treasurer of the City Tract and Missionary society. In public affairs, he was
in general demand as a director of the board of trade. A director of the gas
works company, vice-president of the Hamilton and Port Dover railroad; in fact,
no enterprise for the upbuilding of Hamilton seemed to be complete without the
helping hand of Mr. Baker.

Before, and some time after, the
establishment of the Canada Life, Mr. Baker was manager of the Hamilton branch
of the Bank of Montreal, then located on the south side of King street, a
little west of James street, where the Royal Bank now stands. He lived on James
street south, in the house now occupied by Dr. Rosebrugh, with grounds
extending from Jackson street to Hunter street. Mr. Macaulay’s reference to the
continuity of interest in the Ramsay and Cox families tempts us to add that
Hugh C. Baker, son of the founder of the Canada Life, who was born in the old
Bank of Montreal building on King street west, now lives on Herkimer street..
Like his father, he began his active career in the banking business, and like
his father, he had the foresight and judgment to embark in new enterprises. It
was the second Hugh C. Baker who built Hamilton’s first street railway. When
most people regarded Alexander Bell’s newly-invented telephone as a toy, Hugh
C. Baker realized its possibilities, and became one of the first stockholders
in the Bell Telephone company, of which he was for many years manager of
Ontario, performing essential service in perfecting the system and bringing the
company to its presnt strong standing. The Muser is grateful to Herb. Gardiner,
for his outline of Mr. Macaulay’s address to the association of life insurance
presidents, which old-time Hamiltonians will enjoy.

The Canada Life has always been fortunate in
its selection of local managers for its several branch offices. Mr. Hale, the
presnt local manager of the Hamilton branch, is an enterprising man, who takes
an interest in the social, religious and benevolent life of Hamilton.

HOW MANY AUTOMOBILES ARE THERE IN HAMILTON?

Did you ever count them up? You will no doubt
be surprised to know that there is one automobile owned in Hamilton for every
seventeen people, counting every man, woman and child. This is no fancy
statement, for we give it on the authority of Chief of Police Whatley, and he
says that Hamilton beats the world, so far as he can learn from official
reports in its number of cars. Just fancy, one car for every seventeen people
in this industrial town, and they do not all belong to the ‘bloated capitalists,’
either, for there are not enough of them to own the thousands of cars that are
flying through the streets every hour, day and night, running over the
unfortunate few who do not belong to the charmed one in seventeen. Now, that is
not a sign of poverty when this old town can boast of owning the largest number
of cars of any city in the world in proportion to the population.

RECALLING OLD HISTORY

In last Saturday’s Musings, we told of the
ancient Central School, in which we were fortunate in being able to recall the
names of the first staff of teachers under Dr. Sangster. We told in brief the
unfortunate ending of one of the staff, a man named King, and of his murdering
his wife, who had spent a legacy from her parents in educating him for the
medical profession. Dr. King located down about Cobourg, where he became enamored
of a woman who had a larger bank roll than his wife, and being avaricious to
command both rolls, he gradually murdered his wife by dosing her with ground
glass, intending to take the other woman as his wife. An inquest was held on
the murdered wife, and in the meantime Dr. King skipped out, and left the
country, going to California. The coroner’s jury found an indictment against
King, and immediate efforts were made to capture him. It is said that “conscience
makes cowards of us all,” and this must have been King’s condition, for after
wandering around for a few months, he returned to his old home, intending to
give himself up to the officers. The night before his arrest, he slept in a hog
pen, and was a sorry-looking sight when discovered in the morning. Short work
was made of his trial, resulting in a verdict of murder, for which he was
sentenced to be hanged. When the day for the execution came, a young boy named
Marshall, who was born on a farm near Cobourg, begged his father to take him to
see the hanging. Every road leading to Cobourg that morning was crowded with
sightseers, and among them was young Marshall., and he is living today in
Hamilton to tell the story of that tragic event. He says that King impressed
him as being a handsome young man, and he has never4 forgotten the speech he
made from the gallows. Probably Mr. Marshall is the only living witness in
Hamilton to that tragic scene, and he recalls it as vividly today as when he
witnessed it more than sixty-five years ago in front of the Cobourg jail. Mr.
Marshall is an old resident of Hamilton, having more to this city when he was a
young man. For many years, he was manager of the Slater Shoe company when it
had a branch in Hamilton. He is now employed by the F. F. Dalley company. It is
strange how memory calls back the wandering ghost of the past.